Oakland University enrollment reaches record high

Oakland University’s enrollment is set to reach a record high of 20,000 students, the school reported on Thursday.

University officials say this fall boasts the largest freshman class of 2,542 students, which is the largest in the school’s history.

Last year, OU reported 19,740 total students, with 16,190 undergraduate and 3,550 graduate students. Enrollment has grown 1.8 percent in the past year.

“This is a defining moment for Oakland University,” said interim President Betty J. Youngblood in a press release. “Topping the 20,000-student mark will offer more proof that Oakland has become a first-choice destination for Michigan students.”

Retention of freshman has been a long-term problem at OU, with rates lower than many competing universities across the state.

The university says they expect student retention rates to increase by around 10 percent, with a total of 77.9 percent overall retention. In 2011-12, the total retention of freshman to sophomore students was 70.3 percent - down from 73 percent the year before, according to the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment.

Michigan State University reports a 91 percent freshman to sophomore retention rate and in 2010, Eastern Michigan University reported a 77 percent retention rate.

OU saw their peak retention rate in 1998, with 75.5 percent being retained from freshman to sophomore year.

“Enrollment growth and student retention are two key factors in measuring how you are serving your students’ needs,” Youngblood said in the release. “We are pleased that these numbers reflect the fact that our students feel they are getting a high quality education at Oakland University.”

The enrollment increase comes after several large-scale campus construction projects began earlier this year. A new engineering building, student housing, a clock tower, new parking structure, facilities building construction and work on the upper fields are all ongoing projects on campus this year.

The campus expansion has closed several campus parking lots, including most of the main parking lot outside the current student housing. However, OU has added parking to replace it.

For years, students have complained about lack of parking at the school. Last year, some students said they had heard of students parking their cars at nearby restaurants instead of on campus.

Capt. Mark Gordon of the Oakland University Police Department said he does not have an exact count of parking spots, but there is close to the same amount of spots there were last year.

Last year, The Oakland Post reported there are a total of 9,007 parking spots. Of those spots, 35 are metered, 170 are for people with permits and 296 are wheelchair parking. Every day, there are also 2,000 employees parking on campus. According to the OU Office of Institutional Research and Assessment, about 85 percent of OU students are commuters.

“We did (add more spots), we created three temporary parking lots made out of gravel ... they will accommodate almost 800 parking spaces to accommodate the ones that we lost,” Gordon said. “ We tried to replace ... the ones that we lost due to construction ... the goal was to try to replace as close as we could.”

Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost James Lentini sent an email to faculty telling them to be understanding of late students due to parking constraints.

One student told The Oakland Press she searched for parking spot for about 15 minutes and she found parking to be fairly difficult, but said it was about the same as last year.

Many students agreed getting to class early was the key to finding a spot and getting to class on time.

Director for Media Relations Ted Montgomery said he has generally heard fewer complaints so far this year.

Gordon also said that OUPD has not confirmed that students are walking to campus from other locations across the street. He said that is strictly rumor, as of now.

Though it was only the second full-day of classes on Thursday, Gordon said there have not been any major problems.

“So far, it’s been a pretty smooth transition, we communicated fairly well with our community. We created three bus lines (Bear Bus). We’ve been monitoring things very close, but all in all, it’s been a pretty smooth opening.”